This invention relates to a disposable pull-on undergarment such as a diaper, training pants for infant, a diaper cover or the like.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1997-566A describes a disposable pull-on diaper having front and rear waist regions each comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and a liquid-absorbent core disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet. These two waist regions are bonded together along respective transversely opposite side edges thereof and lower ends of these two waist regions are releasably fastened together along fastening zones to form a pair of leg-openings.
With the respective lower ends of these two waist regions disengaged from each other, the diaper is pulled upward so that the wearer""s legs may pass first through a waist-opening and then through a lower opening of the diaper to the wearer""s waist line in order to put the diaper on the wearer""s body. The lower ends of the front and rear waist regions are adapted to be releasably fastened together along the fastening zones so that the diaper may be easily put on a wearer""s body merely after the clothes such as trousers or tights already worn by the wearer has been pulled down to the wearer""s knee and to protect the wearer""s skin from uncomfortable stimulation which would otherwise occur.
However, with the lower ends of the front and rear waist regions being fastened together, the diaper disclosed in the Publication encounters a problem such that the lower end of the front waist region lying on the inner side of the diaper may create uncomfortable irritation against the wearer""s skin.
It is an object of this invention to provide a disposable pull-on undergarment adapted to be easily put on the wearer""s body merely after the clothes already worn by the wearer has been pulled down to the wearer""s knee and to protect the wearer""s skin from uncomfortable irritation which would otherwise occur.
According to this invention, there is provided a disposable pull-on undergarment comprising a front waist region and a rear waist region each having longitudinally opposite upper and lower ends and transversely opposite side edges, the front and rear waist regions being bonded together along sections of the side edges extending aside to the upper ends to form a waist-opening and the lower ends of the front and rear waist regions are releasably fastened together along fastening zones to form a pair of leg-openings.
The undergarment further comprises the fastening zones including a first fastening zone of a given dimension provided on an inner surface of the front waist region and extending from a vicinity of the lower end toward the upper end of the front waist region, a second fastening zone provided on the inner surface in vicinity of the lower end and releasably engaged with the first fastening zone lying adjacent the upper end of the front waist region and a third fastening zone provided on the outer surface of the rear waist region and spaced apart from the second fastening zone toward the upper end by a predetermined dimension so that the third fastening zone is engaged with the first fastening zone lying adjacent the lower end of the front waist region.
The disposable pull-on undergarment according to this invention is configured so that the respective lower ends of the front and rear waist regions may be releasably fastened together along the respective fastening zones. Therefore, the article can be easily put on the wearer""s body by pulling the article upward around the wearer""s thighs to the wearer""s waist line so that the wearer""s thighs pass first through the waist-opening and then through the lower opening of the undergarment. Such an arrangement allows the diaper 1 to be put on the wearer""s body without any need for completely pulling off wearer""s clothes such as trousers or tights, even if such clothes are already put on the wearer""s body. In other words, the clothes may be pull down to the level of the wearer""s knees immediately before putting the diaper 1 on the wearer""s body.
In the undergarment according to this invention, the lower end of the rear waist region is partially folded on the outer side of the diaper as the front and rear waist regions are fastened together at the lower ends thereof so that the lower end of the rear waist region may be kept out of contact with the wearer""s skin. In this way, the wearer""s skin is reliably protected from uncomfortable stimulation due to the lower end which would otherwise contact the wearer""s skin.